Takuya Kuroda: Fly Moon Die Soon

Posted on April 29, 2023 by Stupidity Hole

One listen here and I feel that the writing is inconsistent.
Overall what I wrote captures the song pretty well. Not as well as it could, but if you listened to the song and read this you’d get a match… I think. However, there are parts where I could’ve focused on other things and gotten a much richer description. I was too safe with my writing here.

I also think I should’ve used the word “organic” at some point. Alas.

Takuya Kuroda’s “Fly Moon Die Soon” is from Fly Moon Die Soon.

I hope you enjoy.

—

A beat with what sounds like a drag. Harsh percussion that seems to double itself. Only a few seconds in, however and it gains context as more sounds come in and melodically play out with a sense of the relaxed, or at least the laid back. The sounds themselves also seem to drag, or more appropriately slide and rise off themselves in brief moments.

One particular brass moves in and out of the sounds, creating its own little bounce until the beat comes in livelier, driving all along with a relaxed breezy feel. Perhaps lounge-like. Other brass continues its marking and the vocals flow in with a rhythmic descent and rise, seeming breathy but also not.

Trumpet starts to move around and speeds and slows, marking moments and flowing along. It sits with the vocals and all is in a harmonious state, filling as parts of a singular sound.

A pause and perhaps a question here as all remains cool and collected, and the joy rises in brass painting a scene.

Suddenly there’s a bit more space and all shifts into a different realm of the cool. There’s a bit more of a punch in the beat, or at least its more obvious. Vocals rise in a space and echo into the surrounding nothingness. Sounds are mostly wisps spreading out and dissipating as they reform and keep moving, and soon it’s just trumpet on its own, letting out one note and falling away, falling far and disappearing as the song ends.

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Sakanatsuri: This Time I Will

Posted on April 29, 2023 by Stupidity Hole

I had planned to write about this song yesterday. Didn’t quite get around to it, in part due to work and in part due to procrastination. Getting into it now and, other than a slightly awkward start all of this came easily.

The writing covers the song in a manner that’s accurate but less descriptive of what is specifically happening in the song and I like that. It’s rough writing but it feels appropriate.

As a side note, I think that Sakanatsuri’s work is interesting, though also bland. There is some slight criticism in what I wrote as, even though “This Time I Will” is from a debut album, it treads a lot of worn ground without adding to it.

I think expression is good but too often an artist – especially when it comes to drone and ambient – is verbose in a way that feels like they’re trying to beat you over the head rather than let the atmosphere and emotion permeate. It feels superficial and it seldom works outside of the short-term.

Again, I think Sakanatsuri’s work is interesting. There is a lot of potential here but that potential needs to be utilised.

Sakanatsuri’s “This Time I Will” is from Sadness Defines Your Happiness.
I hope you enjoy.

—

Low and stretched and something that almost seems like crying vaguely rises outward. It could be based around many things. Perhaps it is catharsis. Maybe sadness. Maybe joy, or resolve. Perhaps dedication.

It sounds stretched and in that stretching sounds that could be ordinary become extra ordinary, but they become beautiful. They seem to rise into view but remain behind a veil; there’s the shape and some detail can be made out, but it’s not entirely clear. It is close and yet it remains distant, and it seems to shimmer slightly and push for emotion, and it laps like slow-moving waves as it fades out and the song ends.

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Moving Up a Hill

Posted on April 28, 2023 by Stupidity Hole

This bit of pathway was a bit odd to me, or at least I remember it as being a bit odd.
The parts that look like blotches had a bit of loose soil, I think. It looks a bit like sand.
I am fairly certain I’m remembering those bits of path incorrectly, however and it could just be exposed rock face with a bit of soil on top of them.

I hope you enjoy.

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Viewed From the Side

Posted on April 27, 2023 by Stupidity Hole

Yet another photo of Yoda from MONO, but this time less bright than the other one from this year’s performance in Sydney.

I like how still Yoda feels here. I’m fairly certain that there was some movement, but it doesn’t come across much, if at all.

This is my submission into Leanne Cole‘s “Monochrome Madness” for this week. Participating is pretty straightforward and something I recommend. If you do, then include the tag “monochrome-madness” in your post. If not participating, then at the least check out Leanne’s photography as well as what other people submit.

A lot of what people are submitting will likely end up here.

I hope you enjoy.

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Dub Trio: En Passant

Posted on April 27, 2023 by Stupidity Hole

This is one that I considered doing… last week, I think. It’s a song that has been part of my review playlist for a while but I had no intention to write about it as it was more there to remind me to go back to the album “En Passant” is from. Anyway, decided to write about it, forgot, then threw myself into it just now.

I think the writing here is a little too focused on covering the sounds but there’s other stuff in there too and that’s something I like. The language is rigid but there’s more of a flourish in terms. Maybe.

Dub Trio’s “En Passant” is from IV.

I hope you enjoy.

—

A rhythmic pounding almost as though a heartbeat breaks all ideas of silence. Soon its harshness is joined by guitar that strikes in alignment. The guitar slides in two brief moments but remains almost muted, lurking, looking ready to strike.

More percussion comes in and the guitar seems to rise. A slight pause for guitar and now the menacing strike moves forward. The sounds seem to cycle onward before finding another shift. Bass becomes more audible and rhythmically strides forward with the percussion. Various echoes and slight sidesteps come in whilst the rhythm remains uncompromising.

A suddenly cut and buzz before returning to the rhythmic focus, and then another one, seemingly pulling the whole thing away but it returns. Another as a moment of celebration and it goes back, but the guitar locks back in and suddenly the sound launches forward and crunches and crushes.

Escalating sound of sliding menace and heftiness, great grit, escalating and rising and its aggressive and violent and controlled.

The opening returns, just as guitar before bass and percussion lock in. The guitar elevates, seemingly stretches and is as though an elongating terror. It seems like it’ll disintegrate at any moment, and noise gets into the space and bubbles until the guitar returns to the rhythmic chug until all sounds stop at the song’s end.

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Retro Remix Revue: Chrono Trigger – Secret of the Forest

Posted on April 27, 2023 by Stupidity Hole

I thought it would be interesting to write about a cover of a song I’d written about before.
I think in some ways this bit of writing is better and worse. It captures the cover fine enough but I described what was happening too much. This version keeps a lot of the original’s feel whilst doing its own thing in places so I could’ve gone more into imagery here. Alas.

Retro Remix Revue’s “Chrono Trigger – Secret of the Forest” is from Retro Remix Revue, Vol. 2. It’s an album of covers from various game soundtracks. This probably doesn’t need saying, but the original “Secret of the Forest” (“樹海の神秘”) is from Yasunori Mitsuda (光田 康典) who did the soundtrack for Chrono Trigger.

I hope you enjoy.

—

Gentle sound carries an air of mystery. Something begins smoothly moving in the background, and soon woodwind seems to carry on a calm breeze through a cool and calm space. Percussion is light and remains as such keys sounding like piano shine and shimmer.

Strings draw out and also move smoothly, and seem to spread throughout the space. Bass is more audible now, picking moments to move and the percussion has gained more detail. The piano returns for a moment, then suddenly a rising upward and the sounds spread out with a sense of beauty whilst remaining gentle.

Space for a moment. Keys and bass seem to dance and find a stillness. Percussion returns and joins in and they move around each other before returning to the main melody.

The sounds move forward with a coolness and soon the keys grow become lively. They move about, flickering and fluttering among the sounds, moving rapidly and slowing in parts, but only for brief moments. The other sounds grow in their liveliness and fill out, and soon they spread out once more. They keys continue their motion here and there in this space of beauty, and align before it’s just the bass and piano dancing once more. Then the strings and percussion join in and flow with grace as the song ends.

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Principles of Geometry: Bethanie

Posted on April 27, 2023 by Stupidity Hole

I think that when I was writing this I was trying to capture the song and little else. At points I tried to be a bit more in the moment and switch off a little but I wasn’t able to do so. I think I did a good job of describing the song, but the writing is a bit rigid.

Principles of Geometry’s “Bethanie” is from Burn the Land & Boil the Oceans.

I hope you enjoy.

—

Layers of warmth overlay each other into one singular moment. They lap at a shore as dawn begins, or maybe it is at dusk. Bass marks points and slowly moves, enunciating the sound and texture, and a calm overlays everything. Maybe it is a calm from peace.

The sounds seemingly stretch and morph a little whilst continuing the melody and the ambience, though seemingly more as an idea. A more muted synth comes in and it is brighter and more prominent than the other sounds, and it rings out, starting high and moving low. It is a little livelier but it feels slow. It repeats and loops and eventually it fades away, or at least it moves into itself and stretches out as at the edges, framing the scene and underscoring the mood.

Once more the muted synth comes out and all is at ease and gentle. It is tranquil in a sense; it is relieving. It is a pleasant moment that dispels intensity, and it remains as the muted synth disappears and the other sounds warp once more, seemingly as an implication of the melody that has carried them to the song’s end.

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Principles of Geometry: Ize

Posted on April 26, 2023 by Stupidity Hole

One listen for this one and it felt like it went by slowly.
I tried to stick to just describing the song and I think I succeeded with that. I didn’t go in with the idea of focusing on just description but it’s what came forward and… yeah.

Principles of Geometry’s “Ize” is from Burn the Land & Boil the Oceans.

I hope you enjoy.

—

Static air whilst a voice stolidly lists off numbers. The beat enters as does a synth and they remain steady. Perhaps tense. Terse in a sense. The static and numbers disappear as a bass line comes in and the percussion gains a bit of a shuffle. Electronic-sounding vocals say words, or at least imply words.

The tension is a little lesser here, but it remains. It suddenly splits open, however, as the synth launches and oscillates quite rapidly. The bass is thicker, the beat steady and the numbers return. The electronic vocals come in again and seem to warp a little.

There’s space and control here but there’s also a sense of chaos and fullness. It’s a menacing moment and it seems overwhelming.

Soon all drops back and just the electronic vocals and some faint static remain. Then the beat returns with the bass and another synth is there, oscillating with a firm looking forward and a slight sense of success. But then it’s just the bass and percussion left to a meanness that stays direct. The electronic vocals come in once more for a few brief utterances and ti seems all is set to disappear, and it minimalises and stops at the song’s end.

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A Hill Rises From the Plants

Posted on April 25, 2023 by Stupidity Hole

There’s something about this scene that feels like somewhere in Australia and somewhere on another continent. It could be the lighting; it could be the vegetation cover; it could be the clouds against the landscape. I’m not sure.

I hope you enjoy.

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Yasunori Mitsuda: Corridors of Time

Posted on April 24, 2023 by Stupidity Hole

Two listens for this one which helped a lot as I felt pretty stumped writing this.
“Corridors of Time” is quite straightforward but also perhaps not. Regardless, I think this is a bit of music that stumped me due to too its familiarity. Not yet skilled enough to write about it in a way that captures it in a way that doesn’t feel stilted and messy, I think.

Yasunori Mitsuda’s (光田 康典) “Corridors of Time” (“時の回廊”) is from Chrono Trigger‘s soundtrack, Chrono Trigger Original Sound Version.

I hope you enjoy.

—

A sense of lofty peace opens before a quick flourish leading to more peaceful sounds, but with more of a sense of the grand and the magical. Otherworldly in a sense. Through the sound there is space and wonderment as percussion continues moving in light layers. A brief rise of something that could be voice or strings and that earlier flourish returns, or at least its origin and it moves along the rhythm and the flow, marking moments that carry on toward a destination.

Another flourish and once more that thing that could be strings or could be voice returns. It is higher and loftier than the other sounds and there is something that seems unreachable about this. There is something that seems highly ideal, and maybe perfect. There is something beautiful about all of this.

The space and sounds continue their interplay onward and they keep carrying the atmosphere as all grows quiet as the song ends.

 

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